WorldStrides Reviews

My time spent in Valparaiso and Vina del Mar was awesome. I had a really great experience with my host family, and feel I have made a connection with them that will last a lifetime. My would definitely go back to Chile, and the surrounding area. I took full advantage of my time in Chile and traveled every weekend to Argentina, Patagonia, and Chiloe. I felt this was great because not only did I get complete submersion in the Chilean culture, but I was able to explore neighboring areas as well.

I had a fantastic time in Morocco with ISA! All of the site staff was super helpful and fun. They welcomed us into their family and really made Morocco a second home. I am so glad thay the program was in Meknes instead of some of the other, larger cities. The classes were interesting and the excursions were great. I would highly recommend this program!

The time I spent in Málaga was great, I can't help but look back on my adventures in Spain and smile. I got to explore a different country, as well as learn about the history (including things that aren't in the books). The professors at the University of Málaga- Cursos para extranjeros were all incredible people, and made learning fun and interesting. My homestay was a wonderful family, with a great location in regards to the city and only 20-25 minutes by bus from my campus.

Some of the best things about living in Malaga specifically are the fact that you have the beach readily available and if you're an active person, you won't be alone. Many Malageunos run, skate, skateboard, and do yoga on or along the beach everyday.
The people in Malaga are also very open and fun to get to know. My host family was amazing, I lived with a young mother and her eight year old son. I even got to take her son to the park one day so she could have some time to herself!! They really began to feel like family and I consider her my Spanish Mom.
Maybe most importantly for those who are planning to learn the language while in Malaga, the learning program is intense and really forces the students to learn. I can't say I had too much homework. But because of the interaction that was basically required each class period, I really learned to speak and understand much more than I thought possible in only a three month period.

This is an outstanding program- the staff are incredibly helpful, the city and history is amazing, and in general, there is not one thing I would change about my experience. The Czech language although difficult, is easy to navigate once you pick up on certain phrases (the most important being do you speak english- which mostly everyone does). There is a really fun night life, and also several very good museums and galleries scattered throughout the city. Safe, clean and in general- amazing.

Morocco is such a beautiful country with an amazing culture. My host family, the Alaouis, were fantastic and did become very much like my real family. ISA has a great program in Meknes- the city is not too big, and I feel like you get better experience because there aren't too many foreigners living in Meknes. The excursions are good too- we traveled to six or seven cities throughout Morocco.

Malaga is a city full of great people, incredible food, and will hands down be the best experience of your life. The daily schedule, including a 3:00 PM siesta, was relaxed and gives you plenty of time to meet the locals, go to the beach, and enjoy the infamous Spanish nightlife. Living off the coast of Spain is a must!

I had an incredible semester in Meknes! I loved the opportunity to see and experience such a different culture!I was very well taken care of by the ISA staff, whom I miss and love very much! Also, the smaller program also provided me with several opportunities to customize my experience for my interests! For example, I was able to volunteer with an organization to teach English classes, and practice with the city's volleyball team! Living there was also very challenging. The culture, language, and lifestyle are very different. I was obviously a foreigner, had trouble adjusting to the food, and was far away from my family. However, working through these things was an incredible growing experience that has me excited about other opportunities to travel.

My experience studying abroad was the greatest experience of my life. If I could do it over again I would take that opportunity in a heartbeat. Before I left for China, I had no idea what to expect. I knew the culture would be different, but I did not know much beyond that. This scared me, but TEAN did a great job of taking care of all of us and slowly setting us into the culture rather than just leaving us to fend for ourselves. The orientation at the beginning of the program definitely helped a lot with both the culture immersion as well as meeting everyone on the program. The orientation let us experience parts of China that I would not be able to experience if I had just visited Beijing on my own. From the Peking duck, to eating with a family in a Hutong, to climbing the Great Wall of China at sunrise, I could have never done that without TEAN setting that up for us. It was definitely a great start to the program and I don’t know of any other program that had done anything like that for orientation.

When I got to Shanghai I lived in an apartment with 3 other girls in my program as well as one Chinese student from Fudan. Her name was Daisy, she was Shanghainese, and her English was impeccable. She helped us out a lot with both the language and other things. She told us where to buy different things, where to go when we were sick, and also helped us out with our Chinese homework. We also got to go over to her parent’s house for dinner, which was an amazing experience. We got to eat home cooked traditional foods made by her mom. It was all absolutely delicious.

At Fudan University I took 5 classes and an internship. The classes I took where Business and Culture, Negotiations and Conflict Resolution, Political Economy of China, Chinese language, and International Financial Mgmt. As the school system is a lot different from the US, it was hard to get used to the way the classes were taught at first, but overall I really liked them. My favorite and most redeeming classes were probably Political Economy of China and Chinese language. I feel like those were the classes I learned the most relevant information from.

My internship was at Planet International, an exporting company for medical supplies and baby products. My job there was research assistant. I would research either FDA regulations, or write up marketing proposals. As an international business major, it was a good experience to learn that kind of thing and will benefit me in the future.

Probably my favorite part of the TEAN program was the group trip to Inner Mongolia. This again was something I could not have imagined doing on my own, and the trip was one of the greatest I’ve ever taken. I don’t have anything bad to say about the trip, other than the large amount of mosquitoes living in Mongolia. We got to live in Yurts, ride camels, go sand sliding, and take part a wedding reception around a campfire. I’m pretty sure everyone who went on the trip can say that they had a blast, and it was one of the great parts of the whole study abroad experience.

Before studying abroad I went through a lot of research trying to find the perfect program. After many pros and cons lists, I finally settled on studying abroad with TEAN, and I do not regret my decision one bit. Unfortunately for me I had to go through an extra step of writing a petition since TEAN was not affiliated with my school, but I went ahead and did it because I thought it was worth it. The main reasons I picked TEAN over the other programs was because of living with the Chinese roommate, the trip to Inner Mongolia, and the amazing orientation to Beijing. The other programs I looked at provided some of these things, but not all of them together.

Overall I’m so glad I studied abroad, and I’m so glad I went through TEAN to do so. I could not have asked for a better experience.

I had the most unbelievable time in Sydney, Australia and a lot of that had to do with TEAN. They set everything up right from the beginning so that you're never stressed or confused. Starting with pre-trip jitters they answer every question you may have, make sure everything is done quickly and efficiently, and they create bonds with their students to make sure they feel comfortable and that they have the best experience possible. As soon as you get off the plane the staff is waiting to take you to a five star hotel where you have an unforgettable orientation for the next 4 days. You do so many incredible things in the first few days that you forget about missing family and friends, there is hardly any jet lag, and it is just a glimpse of what the rest of your semester will be like. Everything from housing arrangements to customer service is top notch with TEAN and there is no better study abroad program than them.

You could live in a hotel for five months with the most breathtaking views of all of downtown Sydney including the entire Harbor, what could be better than that? I've experienced it and I'm telling you there isn't anything better. It has changed my whole perspective on life, you will come home a more experienced, well-rounded person who appreciates what life has to offer.